The Rock: Real Ring Stories | Eunice & Damien: A Nerd Wins An Artist

The Challenge
He’s bits and bytes, she’s fabrics and flares

Damien and Eunice are one of those couples you read about, the ones who prove that online dating services work. They met on an OK Cupid date (Eunice’s first) and discovered they were soul mates. Eunice is the powerhouse behind the digital womenswear company AELLA while Damien runs his own IT consulting firm. So it’s kind of like the guy from tech support started dating the hottest girl in the creative department at work. When it came time to design an engagement ring, he had to come up with something artistic enough to impress his intended.

Making the Cut

As you might expect from a tech guy, Damien approached the process of designing the ring with the thoroughness of someone creating the next killer app. “This was a months- long process involving research, lengthy phone calls, and multiple trips to New York,” he says. He also employed the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that typifies the best Silicon Valley entrepreneurs: when he couldn’t find something that did exactly what he wanted, he went ahead and built it. As designer Zameer Kassam recalls

“Eunice loved emerald cut diamonds, which tend to have a cold, icy look…but he wanted something with more fire, to represent the excitement that she brought to his life. None of the cuts I offered felt right, so Damien simply asked ‘Can we invent a new diamond cut?’ After taking a large sip of scotch, I said, ‘Yes, we can!’

The shape they came up with–we’ll call it the “Eunice” cut–added facets to the top of a classic emerald cut. Chipping away at the diamond lowered the carat weight, but added fire to the diamond’s look.

The Details

Now that they had a truly unique stone, Damien and Zameer turned towards the setting. Zameer incorporated a number of design elements that reflected the couple’s life together:

Bamboo. Small lines running across the ring evoke the bamboo forests in Hawaii, where the couple took their first big trip together.

Parisian architecture. Paris is the couple’s favorite city to visit.

A simple representation of a wine glass, which symbolizes culinary exploration–one of Damien and Eunice’s primary interests.

A paw print, to represent the other parties in the relationship: Destro and Arrow, the couple’s two Jack Russell Terriers.

The Ring: Decoded

The Presentation
Putting all the pieces together

For his proposal, Damien opted to forgo dramatic scenarios or elaborate set-ups. Instead, he ordered a custom-made puzzle that depicted the elements of the couple’s story–the same ones that had inspired the ring. He brought it out during a quiet Friday night at home. “As soon as the last piece went in, the ring was out of my pocket, and Eunice said yes.”

Was the woman with the expert aesthetic impressed? “Beyond the fact that it’s just a beautiful ring (and Zameer and Damien hit my style right on the nail), I was blown away by the fact that he had spent so much energy into designing something so special and unique. That was the most romantic part of it.”